Optimism, Pessimism & Recession Depression
With the world of economic news awash in negativity, how is everyone feeling out there? Does the Vancouver real estate crash have you feeling down? Are you concerned about your bank account or retirement options?
Depending on your current situation you may feel either depressed or optimistic about the direction our local economy is going. On one hand the current real estate correction is a strain on those who are over-leveraged and need to sell, on the other hand dropping home prices are a positive development for those that have been ‘priced out’ of the market.
I assume that everyone reading this site is interested in purchasing real estate, but only when it makes sense to them personally. What factors will you use to figure out if you’re financially and emotionally ready to enter the market, and are you ever concerned that your optimism or pessimism are habitual rather than rational? Is it time to buy, or is it time to sell and cut losses?
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March 26th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I agree with #1. I think it sums it up.
High cost of housing is bad for society. It made me think of fleeing, it made me not wanting to spend, it made me uncertain of the future. So what do one do? One gets into the prepare for disaster mode: spend as little as possible, get rid off stuff, be prepared to move on a short notice, and be very careful of whom you may trust.
Apparently I could not trust the media, the blingy realtors, the government, or banks.
So, being observant, making own sense out of the mess, I had to rely on my own gut, logic, thinking.
Nobody I knew had gotten any raises, so how can housing keep going up like this? The media did not say anything that would make the equation work, searched the internet – somebody, there must be somebody out there that must have felt something was out of kilter. Salvation: Vancouver Housing blog. Finally, I felt I was not some weird loner, an outcast that refused to follow the lemmels. I am a thinking human and happy to find other humans that questioned and think.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:35 am
We’re talking about unemployment all right. Just pay attention to the posts.
I lost my own job in 1982, so I’ve never thought “it could never happen to me”.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Why is nobody here talking about unemployment? It doesn’t matter if you are a bear or a bull, losing your job, and maybe not finding another one for months are going to seriously impact your ability to pay your mortgage or keep your down payment savings intact. Everyone seems to think “it could never happen to me”.
March 25th, 2009 at 5:52 am
dan:
At least when/if your home goes down in value 50%, you still have a home to live in, not just a piece of paper saying you own a home.
What you have is a piece of paper that says you “own” a house worth, say, 300K, and another piece of paper that says you owe the bank 600K on which you have to pay interest for decades.
To stay in that house, you have to pay the bank twice as much as to rent the same house.
You don’t really own anything. The bank owns you.